Don't Pinch Me

Perfection

Colden is nearly two weeks now.  I wake up every day in a dream-like state.  I have two beautiful daughters and a healthy newborn son.  Our family is complete (The feelings that come along with that knowledge warrant a separate blog post).  My husband has been a wonderful help around the house and with the girls.  He has spent his paternity leave catering to all of our needs and really hasn't had much chance to have time to himself. Friends have delivered food.  Colden has only had one day of crankiness.  He nurses 2-3 times a night and does so fairly quickly (He seems to understand that mommy likes efficiency!).  My parents are coming in less than two weeks.  In case this is a dream, don't pinch me! I don't want to wake up!

Ok. I confess. We did have serious issues with his latch.  Certified Lactation Counselors are not exempt from latch issues.  I wish we were.  Even though he nursed perfectly during the first hour after birth, I could not duplicate that latch.  I was sore and torn up for days.  I'm still a tad sore - but, over the hump and healing nicely.  He's still clicking a bit - but knows to open his mouth wide for me and, therefore, we're on the road to nursing perfection (Nursing perfection has a different feel for every mama, I must add). 

I also should confess that several days before Colden was born, I found out I was Group Strep B positive (GBS).  I dragged my butt deciding how or if to treat it during labor.  My options were as follows:

• Bail on the home birth and have a hospital birth with IV antibiotics upon arrival at hospital and every few hours thereafter until baby is born. This would have been the recommendation of most OBs in the US.
• Less effective - Birth at home and take oral antibiotics at beginning of labor and every few hours thereafter. I must be in labor for eight hours for them to be effective at all.  Birth at home.
• Birth at home and treat Colden with an injection of penicillin shortly after birth.  This would require a visit to a peds clinic.
• Do nothing at all.

After a long discussion with my midwife, I discovered the actual risk of serious illness and death is very small.  As a general rule, German OBs and midwives do not even test for it.  This is a huge cultural difference as we always test in the US (Many home birthing midwives aside).  My midwife could not tell me what to do.  All she could do was tell me that most of her patients do not treat GBS and she's never had an issue. She recommended I speak to a German pediatrician whom many of her patients see.  He would reassure me that it was okay not treat.  I went into labor over a week early, before I had a chance to talk to him.  In the midst of labor and all that happened, I forgot about GBS.  Colden was born in his amniotic sac and, therefore, protected from GBS.  The GBS in the water, after his sac had been broken, was very diluted.  We checked for signs of fever/infection for several days.  After three days, Karin told us he was out of serious danger.  He is now past any danger at all.

Colden also had a bit of jaundice.  Again, he recovered nicely and my midwife walked us through what to watch for and we were never worried.  We just took him outside in indirect sunlight and I made sure he nursed often.

He passed his PKU and hearing test.  We did not give him a Hepatitis B vaccine (Yet-we will when he's a bit older). We also did not use any drops/salve in his eyes after birth.  We are using vitamin K drops daily for three months instead of the normal shot given at birth. He lost 3% of weight after birth and is already back up to his birth weight.  We've only had to take him to the peds clinic on post once and that was only to get him into the military health care system so we could fill out paperwork needed for our upcoming move this winter.  My midwife is a Tricare approved provider and comes every day after birth to check on mom and baby for 7-10 days and then once a week thereafter for several weeks.  These visits include weight checks.  I find it funny that when the peds clinic called me to schedule a 2-week weight check appointment, and I told them I was getting it done at home with my midwife, the nurse said, "I'll put down in your chart that you rejected the two-week well-baby appointment."  No, I did not. I just got it done by another provider.  However, home birth is something I started up here for the American community.  It's very new to the providers on post and there is bound to be a learning curve all across the board. 

People ask how he's been sleeping. He's been sleeping fairly well.  Long stretches at night (Thank you, Matt, for passing along great sleep genes).  He is a bit of a mama's boy.  Sometimes, it is only I who can sooth him.  As soon as he's placed in my arms, he quiet downs.  I love that.  I know, eventually, my little boy may not like my hugs and kisses quite so much.  So, I shower him with them as often as I can!  He's very content in my Moby wrap and often sleeps for a few hours at a time in it. 

So far, life with a newborn has been easy peasy.  That being said, I must also confess that I'm a baby-mama. I love babies.  They do not really stress me out.  Not even the fatigue that comes along with it.  I disagree with toddlers and first graders.  That's why I keep another blog just for that purpose (I'm aware it is in need of an update)....